The Scarlet Letter (1926)

﻿The following film review by Mordaunt Hall originally appeared in The New York Times on August 10, 1926:

﻿The prudery of the ignoble bigots in Puritanical days is adroitly put forth in the picturization of Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, The Scarlet Letter, which was presented at the Central Theatre last night. No attempt has been made to render this a movie, for it is as faithful a transcription of the narrative as one could well imagine. The producer has not sparred for a happy ending, and in portraying the conduct of the scandalmongers he has found a way to include a little comedy here and there without exaggerating the characters.

The Scarlet Letter was directed by Victor Seastrom, an earnest Swedish director who gained no little fame through his production The Stroke of Midnight, a picture which has never been exhibited publicly in this country. Mr. Seastrom also made the film version of He Who Gets Slapped. The adaptation of Hawthorne's classic was entrusted to Frances Marion, whose clever script for The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln assisted materially in the production of that masterful study of the...